Ford: Behind The Eight Ball In Daytona
Dateline: 01/20/98As winter testing at Daytona continues this week the new Ford Taurus is bringing up the age old question of what NASCAR should do to even out the competition and when.
Crunch Time
It seems obvious from testing speeds that the new Ford Taurus is just not competitive at this early stage in it's development. However, with the Daytona 500 less than a month away it's time for the Ford teams to panic and ask NASCAR for some concessions to help get the Taurus up to speed. Considering the speedway's busy schedule in the month of February it seems likely that many of the Ford teams will have to use one of their valuable test days at Talladega in early February to adjust to any changes that NASCAR allows and get the cars prepared for Daytona.
Disagreement In The Ford Camp
One of the more interesting pieces of racing news from this past weekend was word that Robert Yates and Jack Rousch had disagreed on when and how to ask NASCAR for some help for the Taurus. According to one of the morning race shows (can't recall which one) Robert Yates had gone to Jack and asked for his support in asking NASCAR for some specific changes to help the Taurus. However Jack Rousch's answer was that he believes that the Ford teams need to do more testing before going to NASCAR to ask for concessions. Rousch believes that they should make sure that what they ask for is what they need.
This has upset Yates who wants to get the changes approved so that he can get on with his testing. At the same time this has upset Rousch who doesn't want to have to go back to NASCAR and try to get another change through if they get something approved now and it proves to be the wrong thing. It's a battle between the two dominant Ford teams, each with great stakes in the game trying to do what's best for their teams.
For the moment anyway Rousch has won and the Ford teams have not yet asked for any changes from NASCAR. This may prove to be a critical error because the manufacturers test days end this week as Ford takes to the track Monday through Wednesday for the final "free" tests before the season starts.
The Final Analysis
Without a doubt, the Ford teams have struggled in the off-season to get the Taurus finished in time for Daytona. The Ford teams still have the option of going back to the old Thunderbird. You should expect to see some of the smaller budget teams do just that while they wait for the templates to be finalized. Not everyone can afford to throw money at race cars that will never see a green flag. I believe that the Ford teams will struggle for the first third of the season before NASCAR makes it's next set of rule changes that will make the Taurus a viable option for the low budget teams.
What's the number one sign that the Taurus is in trouble? You haven't heard a word from the GM camps. The Monte Carlo and the Grand Prix are, at this moment, significantly superior race cars.
The Bud Shootout is now just 2 1/2 weeks away.
Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
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